1. Field of the Disclosure
This disclosure relates to a liquid crystal display (LCD) device adapted to prevent a malfunction caused by an electrical current leaking through an electrostatic discharger.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the information society grows, display devices capable of displaying information have been widely developed. These display devices include liquid crystal display (LCD) devices, organic electro-luminescence display (OLED) devices, plasma display devices, and field emission display devices.
Among the above display devices, LCD devices have the advantages that they are light and small and can provide a low power drive and a full color scheme. Accordingly, LCD devices have been widely used for mobile phones, navigation systems, portable computers, televisions and so on. Such LCD devices control the transmittance of a liquid crystal on a liquid crystal panel, thereby displaying a desired image.
FIG. 1 is a view showing an LCD device of the related art. As shown in FIG. 1, an LCD device 100 of the related art includes a first substrate 110, a second substrate (not shown), and a liquid crystal layer (not shown) interposed between the first substrate 110 and the second substrate.
The first substrate 110 is defined as a display area 140 for displaying an image and a non-display area 150 not displaying any image. The first substrate 110 includes a plurality of gate lines G1 through Gn and a plurality of data lines D1 through Dm which are arranged to cross each other. The ends of one side of the gate lines G1˜Gn are connected to gate pads 112, respectively, and the ends of one side of the data lines D1˜Dm are also connected to data pads 114. The gate pads 112 and the data pads 114 are all arranged on the non-display area 150.
The crossing of the gate lines G1˜Gn and the data lines D1˜Dm defines a plurality of pixel regions P. These pixel regions P are arranged in a matrix shape on the display area 140. A thin film transistor 116, a pixel electrode (not shown), a storage capacitor Cst, and a liquid crystal capacitor Clc are formed in each of the pixel regions P.
In the non-display area 150, a common line 120 is disposed along the periphery of the display area 140. A silver dot 122 is formed on a corner portion of the common line 120. The silver dot 122 is electrically connected to a common electrode (not shown) disposed on the second substrate.
A plurality of first electrostatic dischargers 130 can be connected between the common line 120 and the gate lines G1˜Gn. A plurality of second electrostatic dischargers 132 can be connected between the common line 120 and the data lines D1˜Dm. The first and second electrostatic dischargers 130 and 132 allow static electricity externally applied to the common line 120 to flow to the gate lines G1˜Gn or the data lines D1˜Dm. On the contrary, the first and second electrostatic dischargers 130 and 132 allow static electricity on the gate lines G1˜Gn or the data lines D1˜Dm to flow to an external circuit (not shown) or to the common electrode of the second substrate through the common line 120.
The first and second electrostatic dischargers 130 and 132 generally include a transistor and the common line 120 always receives a common voltage. As such, the common voltage applied to the common line 120 forces an electric current to leak through the first and second electrostatic dischargers 130 and 132.
This leakage current may be applied to the gate lines G1˜Gn or the data lines D1˜Dm. In this case, the pixel regions P are driven by the leaked electric current applied to the gate lines G1˜Gn or the data lines D1˜Dm, thereby causing a horizontal line defect. The horizontal line defect becomes more severe in high temperatures. In addition, the leakage current causes an increase in the electric current consumption of a common voltage supplier (not shown) which generates the common voltage.